oh god

[7/4]

Of the fusion years, I thought "Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy" was one of the best. Of course, it happens to be the only Bill Connors album.

Exactly.

The pre-L. Ron Hoover era.

[Free For All]

I thought it was L. Freddie Hubbard.

[analogak]

are you sure hymn was pre dave hubbard? because the album cover uses the dianetics typeface.

[7/4]

Apparently the forces of evil were already at work.

[Kari S]

I believe Corea has been "acknowledging" good ole' L-Ron since the original RtF on ECM (with Airto, Farrell, Flora).

Edited December 26, 2007 by Kari S

[mr jazz]

good news. I'll be there

[7/4]

good news. I'll be there

:eye:

[RDK]

Well gee, this is heartening. I thought I was the only one who disliked their Columbia sides. Love the two ECM disks though.

[JSngry]

Really, Where Have I Known You Before is where it would have been nice for it to have ended, or at least for it to have not gone any further down that particular road. That's a nice record, actually, one might even call it "definitive" and/or the high-water mark of that style of Corea's writing, being still lyrical with the wonkiness used as accent rather than basis.

But it didn't stop there, did it....

[Christiern]

Is that the point at which it became Return to Whatever? As a group, they certainly lost me somewhere along the line.

[JSngry]

Yeah, Chick's fusion writing lost any real appeal to me pretty early on. Too much...of everything except soulful substance, and really emblematic of so much of what went wrong with "fusion" in general.

[JSngry]

But let me say again that a differnet guitarist, one less eager to let Chick "showcase his skills" or whatever, might be cause for interest here.

But if that ws gonna happen, it would have ahppened a looong time ago, eh? Chick apparently likes writing all this crazyass wonky bombasticism.

[Harold_Z]

Hell, Joe Farrell was sometimes a zombie while he was alive...

[Harold_Z]

Is that the point at which it became Return to Whatever? As a group, they certainly lost me somewhere along the line.

I think Return To Forever was the first lp with the original group with Airto, Flora and Joe Farrell. Then with Light As A Feather it became Chick Corea and Return To Forever and Airto, Flora and Joe were soon gone. I'm thinking big ego and band leader BS came into play - but that's just my suspicion. At the time the grapevine had it that Chick was a miser with the bread.

[Hot Ptah]

The RTF with DiMeola, Clarke and White was a loud rock band in concert, and attracted rock fans who did not go to jazz concerts. I saw them twice in the 1975-76 school year. It was a calculated attempt to get at the rock audience and its money.

In that context, Al DiMeola was fine for that purpose, as he played loud and simply, but fast. The rockers in the audience liked that. They could follow everything he was playing, and could also find it exciting in its speed and volume, much like listening to any rock lead guitarist with the major rock groups of the time.

[7/4]

In that context, Al DiMeola was fine for that purpose, as he played loud and simply, but fast. The rockers in the audience liked that. They could follow everything he was playing, and could also find it exciting in its speed and volume, much like listening to any rock lead guitarist with the major rock groups of the time.

Except much less interesting.

Much.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

yes i changed my mind id take joe farrell over g.c.

[BFrank]

yes i changed my mind id take joe farrell over g.c.

I think we all would, but Joe's a little bit unavailable.

[JSngry]

Otoh, the zombie thing is still immenently do-able.

[Hot Ptah]

When I saw this group in the spring of 1976, their first set was loud and electric, and their second set was all acoustic. I don't remember many specifics, other than Al DiMeola noodling over an acoustic guitar with a quizzical look on his face, and Stanley Clarke playing a flashy, crowd pleasing solo on acoustic bass, which he finished by moving his hands from the very top to the very bottom of the bass, down to the pegstand. That got a big ovation.

[7/4]

When I saw this group in the spring of 1976, their first set was loud and electric, and their second set was all acoustic. I don't remember many specifics, other than Al DiMeola noodling over an acoustic guitar with a quizzical look on his face,

That wasn't quizzical, that was a clueless look.

[Tom Storer]

When I saw this group in the spring of 1976, their first set was loud and electric, and their second set was all acoustic. I don't remember many specifics, other than Al DiMeola noodling over an acoustic guitar with a quizzical look on his face, and Stanley Clarke playing a flashy, crowd pleasing solo on acoustic bass, which he finished by moving his hands from the very top to the very bottom of the bass, down to the pegstand. That got a big ovation.

I saw them in the same time frame. I recall Corea getting up from the keyboard and doing some kind of dumbed-down flamenco dancing to the screaming delight of the crowd. It was fun for the kids, of which I was one.

I was a big RTF fan in high school, but as I moved out toward "real jazz" most of the fusion stuff lost its interest. I still enjoy the pre-electric albums, "Return to Forever" and "Light As A Feather," which is iconic for me because it was a key album in my discovery of jazz.

Stanley Clarke just released an album which, to judge by the review I read, is a throwback to his mid-70's solo albums. Hey, these guys have careers to manage. I don't blame them for milking late-boomer nostalgia. But I think I'll give the concerts a miss.